Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Director Sells $1,754,496.12 in Stock

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Director Gordon Hunter sold 29,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.41, for a total value of $1,754,496.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,129,481.16. This trade represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Gordon Hunter also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, May 8th, Gordon Hunter sold 7,746 shares of Veeco Instruments stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.76, for a total transaction of $455,154.96.

Veeco Instruments Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ VECO traded down $1.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.26. 1,425,681 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,176,110. Veeco Instruments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.85 and a fifty-two week high of $65.43. The company has a quick ratio of 2.86, a current ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.58 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.89.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.06). Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 3.49% and a net margin of 3.53%.The firm had revenue of $158.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Veeco Instruments has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.320 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.850 EPS. Analysts predict that Veeco Instruments Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 54,040 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Veeco Instruments by 3.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,374,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $80,391,000 after purchasing an additional 68,780 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 2.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 293,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,922,000 after buying an additional 6,338 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 1,548.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 15,084 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 14,169 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Veeco Instruments during the first quarter worth about $1,141,000. 98.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VECO shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Veeco Instruments in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Veeco Instruments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Veeco Instruments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc (NASDAQ: VECO) is a leading supplier of process equipment for the semiconductor, data storage, wireless communications, power electronics and advanced packaging industries. The company designs, manufactures and services precision tools used to grow, deposit and etch thin films on substrates, enabling the fabrication of chips, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and high-density storage devices. Veeco’s platforms are deployed across fabrication facilities worldwide, where they support key processes in materials science and device manufacturing.

Veeco’s product portfolio spans molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), ion beam etch and deposition, and high-precision wet and dry etch systems.